Congenital heart disease is no match for this fighter

It’s a Saturday afternoon at Fist Fitness, a boxing gym in Westford, Mass. co-owned by Joe Bellone and Sean Eklund, nephew of the famous “Irish Micky Ward.” A patron enters, slightly tired from a morning 5K run, but ready for another solid workout. It’s been a few months since she’s trained at the gym, but she remembers all of the motions: left, right, 1-2-3, uppercut–she’s in the zone. Her trainer, Eklund, kneels down to get to her eye level. Twelve-year old Hayden is just under 54” tall. Hayden Schenck is not your average sixth grader. She has a zest for adventure, a love of math and a mean left hook. Her athletic achievements are all the more inspiring when you learn she was born with acute congenital heart disease and had open-heart surgery when she was just 8 months old. While Hayden doesn’t remember the surgery, mom Heather can recall the period before and after as if no time at all has passed. Hayden was three months old when her primary care physician suggested that a pediatric cardiologist check her on again, off again heart murmur. Hayden’s diagnosis: Congenital heart disease Heather brought her daughter to see Dr. David Fulton at the Boston Children’s Hospital Heart Center. Fulton explained that Hayden had a transitional type of atrioventricular canal defect that included an atrial septal defect (ASD) (a hole in her heart’s upper blood collecting chambers), a ventricular septal defect (VSD)(a hole in her heart’s lower pumping chambers) an...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our patients’ stories congenital heart defect congenital heart disease Heart Center Source Type: news